brian costello

2012-13 marks the first season for the Timbers Academy teams as they begin competition fielding a U-16 and U-18 squad. Under the overall umbrella of the U.S. Development Academy, USsoccer.com did a profile of the growing Timbers side and talked with Academy co-director and head coach for the U-16s, Mike Smith, about how the hunt for players began and the progress the team has made in their first season.

“Portland is a hotbed for soccer in so many ways,” Smith said. “When youngsters can watch their local heroes train at a high level, the excitement filters down. I’ve seen that with the numbers we’ve had at tryouts and the players at our regional training centers. We’ve had a number of our U-17/18 players get pulled into the MLS Reserves or even see a few minutes of action, and they have aspirations to play up the chain."

KGW also took notice and did this nice report not only on the players' involvement but also why the ascent of pink-related products has raised awareness and funding around a disease that thirty years ago wouldn't even be allowed to be mentioned in the newspaper.

After a summer that saw Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson and defender Ian Hogg both spend a good deal of time with the New Zealand national team in friendlies, the Oceania Football Confederation Nations Cup, and London 2012 Olympics, it should come as no surprise that the duo are already eyeing qualification for the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

FIFA.com took a look at the pair with an eye towards the numerous new players coming up through the New Zealand ranks.

“My time will come,” Gleeson, New Zealand’s third-choice goalkeeper, told FIFA.com. “I’m still young and I have plenty of time to grow. The junior sides are a good platform, but the step up in quality from there to the All Whites is still very big.”

Hogg also chimed in:

“The competition is improving in Oceania, where teams are unpredictable and players don’t really stick to their positions,” he continued. “So we know that our concentration and intensity has to be absolutely spot-on. New players have come in, and it will take a bit of time for things to gel. But we’ll see a much better New Zealand team in the near future.”

After putting up a hat trick last week, University of Akron’s Reinaldo Brenes was at it again Friday night for the Zips with two goals and an assist in their 5-0 win over Florida Atlantic University. Junior Eric Stevenson (right) also had two goals and an assist while freshman Dillon Serna picked up a goal as well.

For Caleb Porter’s Zips, it was the fourth straight win and fifth straight shutout they have out-scored their last four opponents 16-0. Moreover, they have yet to allow a goal at home in five matches.

In Timbers U-23s news, goalkeeper Justin Baarts made a clutch penalty shot save for the University of Portland to hold on to the Pilots’ 2-1 win over Loyola Marymount also on Friday evening. U-23s member Ricardo Carrillo picked up an assist on the game-winner, his team-best fourth assist of the season.

The UP Pilots women’s team also played this weekend and despite a spirited comeback, they fell 3-2 to the San Diego State Aztecs. As part of the afternoon, UP honored their 2002 NCAA national championship team in a special ceremony at Merlo Field. Former NASL The late Clive Charles--a former Timbers NASL player and Ring of Honor member--was the coach of that squad which also included former player Colleen Little.

The Oregonian did a unique store about how Charles had such an affect on Little as a player and a person that when she ran in the Portland Marathon yesterday--finishing in 2 hours, 51 minutes and 35 seconds--she chose to have "4 Clive" on her racing bib.

“Every time I compete, I compete in remembrance of him,” Little said. “He taught all of us to be good athletes, but also to be amazing people. His suffering pushes me toward everything I do.”

Nagbe has been training in his special custom shoes for a couple of weeks now looking to break them in for matchday. He's definitely excited to have them.

“These will be my first custom cleats, I’m pretty excited," he said. "Adidas is famous for their stripes, so I wanted to make the stripes, laces and other pieces on my boots pink to support breast cancer awareness. I used black and gold on the rest of the cleat to draw attention and try to make the pink really stand out.”

There are Timbers fans everywhere. Portland, Gresham, Bend, New York, New Zealand.

Seattle.

Being a Timbers fan deep in Sounders territory is no easy feat. Do you wear your Timbers kit to Pike Place Market? How do you get down to JELD-WEN Field for games? Are there others out there like you?

We found one. However, he would only agree to an interview if we picked a pseudonym. Settling on the name "Mr. Pine"--chosen after the street of the same name that runs through both downtown Portland and Seattle--I spoke to him about the difficulties of rooting from afar, how often he gets down to Portland for games, and what it's like when the Timbers Army comes north to the Emerald City.

Yahoo! Finance's Businessweek.com just published a list of America's Best Cities with Portland coming in at No. 5 overall. Utilizing a number of different criteria (number of restaurants, bars, libraries, museums, professional sports teams, park acres by population) along with economic data, Stumptown made the list on account of it being "beloved of America’s hipsters, do-it-yourselfers, and localist foodies."

Another big reason? "[The] popular recent arrival is the city’s Major League Soccer team, the Portland Timbers, which regularly sells out its games."